Apr 175 min read

BENCH IN THE PARK - short story

Updated: 7 days ago

August 20th, 2021

story from the book: NOT EVERYTHING IS LIKE IT SEEMS Life-written Fairy Tales for Adults

by Katarzyna Nowocin-Kowalczyk

A bench. It stands alone in the park. Right on the water's edge. And the view from it is beautiful. Sometimes someone will sit down for a short time, ponder and maybe for the first time in life will see another world. The world of the soul. He had seen this world before, but without reflection, without noticing. There were only words. Empty words.

The magical bench that gives peace and rest. Soothing of all the senses. Emotions. It allows you to organize your thoughts or not think at all. To be here and now. Enjoy the silence. Immerse yourself in silence. To give respite to the weary of hustle and bustle of the human world, to the ears. It allows the eyes to see more.

This bench is like stopping in time. Stopping in life. In its rush to...exactly...often you don't even know what. But you rush, rush, and rush. You rush blindly doing a lot of unnecessary things that you consider the credo of your life. You judge, criticize, decry. You run without stopping after the matter from which you have made your god. You prostrate before matter and worship it. For matter you are able to do a lot, and even more. Is this what your life is about? About the pursuit of matter? That's why you came into this life, to accumulate treasures of matter on earth?

Time runs through fingers like water. The time’s clock measures its time backwards. Measures days and hours. And there are fewer and fewer of them. How much time do you have left? Maybe an hour? Maybe a day, a week, a year? Maybe a few years. You don't know. You naively believe that you are immortal, even though you have only one life to live. And this time is limited. And this life is just a few moments on this earth. Because death is everyone's destiny. And there is no escaping it. So, when do you want to start living? When do you want to reach for your dreams? When do you want to be happy? Or is this the time to do it now? At this point. Now. And not to postpone life until tomorrow. For later.

A lonely bench in the park. It would seem that it is waiting for someone. Maybe for you? It invites you to sit down and just be in that one moment. To stop. To last. To appreciate that one moment. To encounter oneself. So that you feel a gentle gust of air on your face. A kiss of the wind. Hear the quiet melody of nature. The murmur of water. The sound of dancing leaves in the branches of trees. To listen to the conversation of geese and ducks walking along the shore, who live together and next to each other in unison. They coexist in peace. This magical bench in the park invites you and wants to show you the beauty of the sun reflected in the water. A different world. It encourages you to look up at the sky and notice the images and signs depicted in the shape of white clouds. To touch the grass with your bare foot and to feel one with mother earth. To feel that you are part of this nature. To understand that the Earth is your home. Our joint home. And we all are one race, one family. Brother and sister.

“Earthlings, children, how do you take care of your home?” Someone asks high above. "How do you manage the planet that I have given you to be in charge of? How do you take care of each other? What do you do to brother and sister? Why do you condemn your brothers and sisters to hunger, homelessness and suffering? Why do you throw stones at each other? What do you do to yourselves and why do you choose fear and war over love? How do you use the gift of life that I have given you?

And when you understand all this, peace and joy come. And there is only love. And where there is love, the impossible becomes possible.”

And here a woman sits down on the bench. And although time has measured many Earth years in her earthly calendar, she seems to be younger than when she was younger. A magnetizing aura is emanating from her, a bright light. She went through a lot in her life and walked many roads. She looked into hell to choose heaven. To choose love and choose herself. To win her life. And now there is peace and acceptance on her face. The eyes look at the world with the wisdom of experience.

The bench welcomes the guest with gratitude and offers the best of its best. Peace, quiet and joy of experiencing the moment. That moment. Wild, though tame birds come closer, as if attracted by an invisible thread of divine energy. As if they felt the significance of this moment. And this moment is important. Because this is the moment. The wind embraces the branches of the trees and dances a joyful dance with them. The sun comes out from behind the clouds and illuminates the world with the glow of warm light. The earth rejoices, and with it the whole Universe rejoices.

A man approaches the bench. He is determined. He already knows. He has already chosen. He is already sure. He grew up to love and opened his heart to love. He understood that it is not matter, not struggle and flight from love, but love that is the way, the truth and the goal of life. And that understanding brought him to this very park and to this bench. For a heart filled with love will always find its way to another heart filled with love. And even if these two hearts are separated by eons of light, they will always attract each other to unite in love and create One.

The man sits down next to the woman. His eyes look into her eyes and merge together in the endless ocean of another dimension. And when the eyes speak, then the words become superfluous. The woman smiles at the man. He silently takes her hand, as if saying, "You are here. It took a while, but I finally found you. Because I found myself. Dance with me, girl. May this moment together last forever. Let me hold your hand and walk beside you and with you on the same path. Together.”

The woman reciprocates his hand’s touch and puts her head on the man's shoulder. And it's good. So good. And there is no longer a lonely bench in the park. And sitting on the same bench, snuggled up to each other, the woman and the man with a smile look at the world with the same eyes. Two roads merge into one. Two houses become one. Divisions disappear. Wars are fading into oblivion. Female energy and masculine energy combine as equal partners. Cooperate. Two becomes One. Mother Gaia smiles and the Father in heaven rejoices. Let this moment last.

-KatarzynaNK (Catherine)

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